White House hopeful Newt Gingrich bade farewell to the 2012 presidential campaign Tuesday, using a video posted on his website to preempt an official announcement set for the following day

WASHINGTON — White House hopeful Newt Gingrich bade farewell to the 2012 presidential campaign Tuesday, using a video posted on his website to preempt an official announcement set for the following day.

In his message to supporters, the former speaker of the House of Representatives said he wanted to “give you an insider advanced notice that on Wednesday I’ll be officially suspending the campaign as part of a press event” in Virginia.

“We’re still faced with a tremendous crisis of our country’s future,” he added. “A re-election of Barack Obama would be a genuine disaster.”

Gingrich, 68, did not mention by name his Republican rival Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the party’s presumptive nominee, but said that “all of us have an obligation, I think, to do everything we can to defeat Barack Obama” in November.

Gingrich’s spokesman acknowledged last week that the writing was on the wall for the embattled candidate after Romney swept all five of the state contests that were held on April 24.

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With Republicans rallying behind Romney, the “super” political action committee aligned with his campaign has scrubbed the many negative adds that attacked rivals Gingrich and Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who bowed out last month.

The group Restore Our Future, which backs Romney, on Tuesday had just two ads on its YouTube feed, both pro-Romney videos.

The New York Times reported that the previous videos — notably the ads that savaged Gingrich and Santorum and helped Romney win major contests like Florida — were still available on private accounts.

The brief Gingrich video is front and center on the Newt2012 site, whose home page carries a prominent message reading “Thank you — but we still need your support,” followed by a bright red “Donate” button.

His campaign has about $1.2 million in cash on hand but is saddled with $4.3 million in debt, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In his video, Gingrich, standing beside an American flag in an office, thanked his nearly 180,000 campaign donors, thousands of volunteers and the nearly 2.5 million people who voted for him in 43 state contests.

Gingrich had won just two of those contests, in Georgia and South Carolina, and was a distant third in the nomination fight.

His withdrawal leaves only Ron Paul, a Texas congressman who represents the libertarian wing of the party, in the race. Paul consistently placed fourth in the primary season and has no chance of catching Romney.